Karen Joy Fowler's We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves is one of 2014's most memorable and lauded novels. Having received rave reviews across the world, it won the Pen/Faulkner in the United States and then became one of the first works by an American to be shortlisted for the Man Booker.
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Our narrator is Rosemary Cooke, an introverted college student drifting through life.
Slowly, she reveals that her isolation springs from her unconventional upbringing. Her
father is an animal behaviourist, her mother is traumatised, her brother has
gone Awol and her sister, Fern, has vanished entirely. The implication that Fern’s disappearance lies at the heart of her dysfunction is explained in a beautifully judged twist, not so much in the tail as the head.
I talked to Karen on the day We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves was published in the United Kingdom. She was in suitably celebratory mood, sipping prosecco as we discussed (in part one):
Episode 90 - Rebecca Thornton Trailer: Thrillers, Catastrophes (and Motherhood)
Episode 89 - Neil Richards and Matt Costello: Part 3
Episode 88 - Neil Richards and Matt Costello: Part 2
Episode 87 - Neil Richards and Matt Costello: Part 1
Episode 86 - Neil Richards and Matt Costello offer a little writing advice
Episode 85 - DBC Pierre: Part 4
Episode 84 - DBC Pierre: Part 3
Episode 83 - This Writing Life Special: Richard Russo on 2016's US Presidential Election
Episode 82 - This Writing Life Special: Gary Younge on 2016's US Presidential Election
Episode 81 - DBC Pierre: Part 2
Episode 80 - DBC Pierre: Part 1
Episode 79 - DBC Pierre Trailer: Does Writing Help (or: do writers need to be weirdos)?
Episode 78 - Rosa Rankin-Gee: Part 4
Episode 77 - Rosa Rankin-Gee: Part 3
Episode 76 - Rosa Rankin-Gee: Part 2
Episode 75 - Rosa Rankin-Gee: Part 1
Episode 74 - Rosa Rankin-Gee reads from The Last Kings of Sark
Episode 73 - Bill Clegg: Part 5
Episode 72 - Bill Clegg: Part 4
Episode 71 - Bill Clegg: Part 3
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